Kim Hall, Dennis Bristow and Grant Bristow all received honours after years of dedicated service to the New Zealand Fire Service. Photo / Megan Nattrass
Kim Hall, Dennis Bristow and Grant Bristow all received honours after years of dedicated service to the New Zealand Fire Service. Photo / Megan Nattrass
Two firefighters, both father and son, have been celebrated for their dedication to the New Zealand Fire Service.
Dennis Bristow of Taradale, and son Grant both received honours (gold stars) at the Taradale Town Hall on Saturday night.
Dennis now has 50 years of service, while Grant has beenin the service 25 years.
Although Grant lives in Lower Hutt working for the Seaview fire station, he travelled to Hawke's Bay last week to celebrate with his father and firefighter Kim Hall, who also received honours for 25 years of service at the Taradale fire station.
The Bristows are the sixth father and son in New Zealand history to receive service medals for their dedication.
Dennis Bristow, in 2009, with the old and the new of the Taradale Fire Station's appliances.
Dennis, 73, has seen it all. He's rescued cats up trees, attended car crashes and fought fires for days on end, but his passion for the job remains as fiery as ever.
"I just love helping people," he said.
"When I was doing my apprenticeship many years ago - I must have been about 17 - the firm I worked for used to do a lot of mechanical and electrical repairs on the fire engines and the fire chief was always coming into our workshop. I asked him if I could join and he took me on as a volunteer."
He did four years as a volunteer and was then offered a paid job in the fire service, working until 1996 at the Hastings fire station.
"I moved over to Napier and Taradale was just down the road and they asked me if I wanted to joint the Taradale brigade so I did."
One of the biggest jobs he attended was at a Whakatu packhouse which was set ablaze in the early 2000s.
"All these stacked cardboard trays were on fire and we were there for about two or three days with these things burning.
"Cats up trees was always a common one, but I do remember one really odd job I went to, where a guy had been shot through the arm with a crossbow. The arrow had gone right through his arm and pinned him to the grass."
Grant said it was an honour to be with his father to celebrate the joint achievement.
"A 50-year celebration doesn't come around all that often - I think there might have been less than 200 in 150 years and I think it's something you'll see less of when time goes on.
"It was great celebrating with Dad, it's a big milestone and a big commitment."
